Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Why are we fighting?

What reason makes her look at me with such fury?

Nikolai's mind raced with questions and curiosity as he observed the woman who should be leading the SSS in S-Kingdom. To find her here, searching for his father, shocked him. At first, he felt a strange attraction to her, but he also carried the desire to crush her.

Because his father would never commit such an act.

The black wolf steadied himself, chest heaving once to balance his breathing. Madoka circled him slowly like a predator hunting wounded prey, her bare feet tapping against the cold floor. The bloody scent of the training room faded to a more pleasant rose scent as her unblinking golden eyes glared at him.

"What's with the face, woman?" Nikolai said with a grumble, curious about her words about his father as the air between them trembled.

"My face?" she replied. "Isn't it pretty?"

Her body shifted, twirling her spear, with the tip pointed towards the ground in Nikolai's direction.

"Are you just here to play?"

She stopped moving. "Your father, Ivan Volkov, killed my family. My parents. My brothers. Every one of them. He didn't even give them the mercy of a clean death. He left them for the beasts, little wolf." The playful yet eerie tone lingered as she spoke, her eyes burning with pure hatred. "And you look just like him."

His head tilted slightly, not in confusion but like an animal sizing up prey. "Foolish woman."

Her lips twitched, almost into a snarl.

"My father would never commit such a prideless act," he said slowly. "Killing children? Burning homes? That's the work of scavengers and cowards."

"You think you know him," she spat.

"I know him better than some SSS bitch. If you were worth killing, he wouldn't have acted so shamefully and fought your family head on." Nikolai narrowed his black eyes, the edges of his skin shimmering with a black mist. "Maybe the truth is your family were just too weak."

Her knuckles whitened around the spear. "Careful... I might just have to make this painful."

"Do your best, woman." Nikolai huffed, turning his head away while creeping closer. "Blinded by revenge. You've built your whole existence over this lie, because that's easier than admitting you couldn't save them."

The words echoed in the silent room.

Madoka's body quivered, her teeth sinking into her lips.

"Say that again..."

"I dare you."

"You heard me."

Her spear quivered in her grip. Not from fear. From restraint breaking. "Then I'll kill you in his place," she hissed, voice vibrating with a fury that bent the air. "Surely, he'll understand the pain of losing his only remaining family, right?"

"You can try."

The floor split under the first step she took, a thrust powered by rage and perfect technique. The point blurred, a line of black steel cutting through the space between them faster than air could follow.

Nikolai met her halfway.

The black wolf burst forward, his feet crushing the flooring as he closed the gap in a heartbeat. His left hand snapped up, colliding with the spear's shaft mid-lunge. The impact cracked the air like a rifle shot, the force running up his arm and into his shoulders.

She lacked hesitation, slamming her knee toward his ribs.

He sidestepped, letting it glance off muscle, and dragged the spear sideways, pulling her into his reach and slashed at her throat with his right claws.

Madoka threw her head back, his claws slicing through her chest, before she rolled under his arm and snapped her spear back, the butt of her weapon driving into his spine.

"Ngh..." Yet he didn't flinch.

The instant the strike landed, he spun faster than sight, a black blur as the back of his hand slammed across her jaw. She staggered but kept her footing, the gold in her eyes brightening like molten metal.

"Faster, faster!"

His answer was to fight speed with speed, power with power.

The black aura around him enveloped his body, so dense his figure blurred, heat rolling from his body in waves that warped the air. His claws elongated, joints popping audibly as the transformation progressed, pushing deeper. The gash she'd left across his cheek was already gone.

Watching his changes, her smile twisted, neither happiness nor joy... an eerie delight.

"You're going to burn yourself, Nikolai."

"Then I'll burn you to ash before I go."

They collided again, spear and claw clashing in tight, brutal exchanges. Every strike from her weapon was meant to kill. A thrust for the throat, sweep for the knees, slash for the eyes. Every swipe of his claws tore gouges from the steel floor, each missed strike landing inches from severing her life.

Madoka flung back, twisting her body as she swept his legs.

Nikolai vaulted over it, flipping in the air as he came down with both claws aimed at her shoulders.

"....!"

She desperately lifted the shaft, before sparks of black and silver flickered, and his claws almost tore through her flesh, the tight bodysuit sliced open.

He leaned in close, breath hot on her face. "You're not strong enough."

She bared her teeth and pushed him back. "Neither are you."

Without a pause, she let go of her weapon, both hands snapping up to slam his chest. A pulse of pure force exploded outwards, an invisible shockwave that hurled him back into the far wall hard enough to bury him inside.

Dust rained down from the wall.

The wolf stepped out of the rubble, black aura seething, eyes darker than midnight.

"Not bad."

He said, with a hoarse voice, rolling his head with a vicious smile on his lips.

"Now you're worth killing."

Her spear reformed in her hand in a rush of shadow.

"Then come prove it."

They launched at each other again, a storm meeting a typhoon meeting in the centre of the room, the sound of steel and claw drowning out everything else.

In between a gasp for air, Madoka's spear came in a straight line for his heart. Nikolai didn't sidestep; instead, he grabbed the spear in his palm. Steel, tearing his flesh, as his fingers clenched tightly, black blood hissing where it touched the edge. He wrenched the weapon aside, dragging her forward, his knee rocketing into her ribs hard enough to make the air bark out of her lungs.

She twisted, tried to turn the motion into a throw, but he slammed his forearm into her shoulder, breaking her grip on the spear entirely as it clattered across the floor.

Madoka slid across the ground, but she didn't retreat and instead lunged with bare hands, striking like a coiled viper, palm towards his chin, elbow for his temple. He followed and met every blow, claws flashing in arcs that shaved hair and tore strips from her bodysuit, each one close enough to a fatal wound.

They clashed in each other's space, no sense of distance to breathe, no room for feints. Her knee smashed into his thigh; his elbow cracked across her nose. She staggered, guard dipping while he stumbled and pounced.

He caught her wrist, twisted, and drove her face-first into the floor.

She rolled before the follow-up stomp landed, springing to her feet in time to meet his charging shoulder. They crashed together again, the impact shaking the chamber, glass above them rattling in its frames.

Madoka's counterpunch grazed his jaw.

"Fall!"

He answered with a hook that sent her flying into the wall, before she could push off, he was there... a hand around her throat, lifting her until her boots scraped uselessly at the stone.

Her hands clawed at his arm, eyes blazing even as the black aura burned against her skin. She slammed a knee into his side. He didn't flinch. His claws flexed, the tip pressing against her skin without breaking it.

"You've lost your speed." Nikolai mocked her, his voice a deep growl. "You can't win, surrender."

Her answer was a spit of blood at his cheek. "I'll die before I yield to you."

"You might regret that," he said and slammed her down.

The floor dented under the impact.

She tried to rise, but he was on her in an instant, boot pressing to her collarbone, pinning her. Black eyes glared down at her, the wolf breathing hard, but steady.

For the first time, she stayed down.

Unable to overpower him.... a sense of desperation overwhelmed the woman.

"You're fighting the wrong enemy," he said in a voice like cold iron. "Look into the past properly. Stop relying on an inaccurate memory."

Her glare wavered, confusion creeping in at the edges.

"My father doesn't kill humans," he finished.

".......Liar!"

A metallic click and the sound of boots broke the silence.

Nikolai turned his head slightly to find a dozen figures fanned out across the observation deck above—SSS operatives, black armour glinting, submachine guns trained directly on him.

"Step away from her!" one barked.

"W-Wait!"

Madoka's rough voice echoed as Nikolai faced the group of armed SSS task members.

Nikolai looked down at the wounded Madoka with a victorious smile.

"Find the truth.....

Or keep chasing my shadow."